Finding a Path
by The Graveyard Hag
Summary: A story about Daine and Numair's middle child, whom I have named Alina. She loves her parents, but is tired of always standing in the shadow of their achievements. In a moment of difiance she decides to try to achieve knighthood in her own right.
1. A bold decision

The small black cat raced for cover under the large oak table but before she was under the safety of its thick legs and heavy, long table cloth a large hand grabbed the scruff of her neck and pulled her into the air until the cat's eyes were level with her captor's.

"As ever-impressed as I am with your shape-changing, Alina, I'm going to have to ask you to change back and explain why you are skipping your lessons." The man said crossly.

The cat looked away from his face and mewed reluctantly.

"Good," the man said, placing the cat on the floor, "and don't let me hear one of your usual excuses this time."

With that the cat trotted briskly out of the dining room. A few minutes later a thin, dark-haired girl walked sullenly into the room. Without even looking up at the tall, black-haired man she sat with a thud into one of the chairs placed neatly around the table. After a moment of silence Alina finally spoke.

"So, _Numair_, what kind of trouble am I in now?" she asked sarcastically.

"You aren't in any trouble, yet," the main replied running his fingers through his thick black hair, "but that could quickly change if you don't show your father any respect."

His grey eyes locked gazes with hers but she quickly looked away. With a sigh he continued.

"Are you still bent out of shape about this knight business?" he asked.

"You and ma laughed at me." She said quietly without looking up.

"We certainly did not laugh at you, and if you really think we did, it was a misunderstanding," he explained quickly to keep any comments she had to herself, "we were simply surprises at your decision, you never showed any interest in knighthood until this spring. We never said you couldn't do it, in face quite the contrary, we've always said that any path you choose to walk in life is good enough for our daughter."

"So I can go to Corus then?" Alina asked, finally looking up.

"Of course you can," Numair replied with a grin, "But you better go pack if you're serious, they want new pages their by next week."

Alina jumped to her feet, almost knocking over her chair and raced to her father hugging him tightly.

"Thanks dad," she murmered.

"Anything for my shining star, Lina," he replied, glad that his daughter was finally happy.


	2. A Promise to Sarra

"You're completely mad," Sarralyn said accusingly, "your just doing this to avoid having to go through more lessons with da, aren't you?"

"No." Alina replied curtly.

"Then why?" Sarra asked, "are you just tired of all of us? Want to hide in the palace until your little tantrum is over?"

"No!" Alina said, beginning to sound angy, "I just want to do my own thing. I want to do something other than just practice magic day after day. Is there something wrong with that? Is there something wrong with wanting to try something new?"

"Well," Sarra replied taken, "I didn't mean to make you angry, I was just wondering. You're allowed to do whatever you want. It just doesn't seem like you…"

"I guess I over reacted," Alina admitted, "Sorry. But, I'm still going, if I don't like it I'll come home."

"Is that a promise?" Sarra asked, pulling Alina into a hug.

"It's a promise." Alina replied hugging her sister back.


	3. The first Day pt 1

Alina pulled away from her mother's tight embrace,

"I'll be fine mom, it's not like you're never gonna see me again," Alina said stubbornly.

"It feels like it," Daine replied, "my little girl away from home for so long, and every year! When have your own babies, you'll understand."

"You always say that; even when we just go to see aunt Alanna," Alina said looking at her mother with a smirk.

"Because it's true," Numair said looking at his daughter with a smile. She smiled back and was suddenly scooped into a hug, "I'm gonna miss my little kitten, even if she is a bit of a trouble maker."

"I'll miss you too, dad." She replied in a whisper. She felt tears well up in her eyes as her family left, but she did not let any fall. It was time to act like a knight, not a little girl. She did not want a boy to see her crying, she just knew she would never live it down if someone did.

As soon as she was alone Alina surveyed the room and surrounding corridor. She was not in the same wing as the boys, but she had noticed that the adjacent room had a large trunk parked in front of it but she had not seen anyone since her fittings. She then turned her attention to the inside of the room. It was a good size, she could do simple exercises inside, but doubtful that a sword would be usable. Also in the room was a single down-mattressed bed and several pieces of sturdy-looking furniture. Her family had already helped her set up and the place was already looking homey.

She had changed into her pages gear and was adjusting her room when a rumbling voice rang out through the hallway,

"All new trainees' report to the main pages' corridor immediately!" the voice boomed. Alina jumped at the unexpected noise and sprang out the door, not wanting to make such an intimidating voice angry for waiting, all the while wondering if the person would be as startling in its intensity as the person it belonged to. When she arrived at the meeting place she saw that others had already formed a small mob in front of a man Alina Supposed was going to be their training master. The man waited cheerfully as a few stragglers sauntered in and he began to speak, this time much quieter.

"Hello and welcome to your first day as a page," he said with a grin, "I'm your training master, Sir Owen of Jesslaw, for the next couple years as a page. I will help you as much as I can, but remember, I am not here to hold your hand and lead you gently through training. Don't be fooled my sunny demeanor, it will be hard. You will sweat, you will ache, your feet will burn, not all of you will make it but just remember, the pay-off is greater. You aim to serve your kingdom, common towns people and jewel-clad nobles alike depend on the services of knights, so work hard so that you can live up to their expectations and keep Tortall safe. This is where it begins. So, then, I have behind me second year pages who will be your mentors for however long you need. They will show you the ropes for the next couple of days. I would, but you guys far outnumber me and and honestly, I have better things to do than tell my students where and when dinner is served. Training is my concern. So I will help pair you up then I am on my way. Who wants to begin?"


	4. The first Day pt 2

All the new pages were made to line up in a row and stand in front of the older boys. Alina leaned forward as the second years were also getting organized to get a better look at her new classmates. As she glanced at the boys in line she was shocked by what she saw towards the end of the line. Standing perfectly still, nervousness written all over their face, was a girl. Alina gasped audibly at this discovery, and quickly straightened out back into line after receiving a few wondering glances.

She simply could not believe that there was another girl there! But, then, that made sense of the trunk outside the room opposite of hers. It must have belonged to this girl. Sir Owen was briefing the second years on who they were going to be helping out, and as he did so Alina looked back over at the girl. She was opposite in looks as Alina, she was a lot like her father, tall, thin, fairly tan and had wavy dark hair, this girl was short with an average build, fair skinned with curly blond hair and pale blue eyes. She was still in disbelief about this other girl page when her disbelief was continued by her name being the first to be called out by Sir Owen.

"Alina Sulmalin, you have a sponsor now, Theo here will be your new helper. Have a good day, off you go." Sir Owen said gesturing vaguely to the left. Out of the mob of pages a tall boy with short brown hair stepped forward,

"A pleasure to meet you, Lady Sulmalin. I am Theobald of which is, if you cannot tell by my appalling accent, is quite a ways north. Any questions?" he said with a bow.

"Not that I can think of at the moment, perhaps if we get on with the tour I may think of some." She replied, with a short bow in return.

"Ha! Then lets us go!" he said, laughing.

As they walked away from the group Alina thought that Theo may be someone she could like, he seemed nice enough.

"So, Alina Sulmalin, it's pretty unusual to have someone here that uses a family name rather than fief title, where do you come from?" he asked.

"I'm from Pirate's Swoop, though I'm surprised you don't recognize my name, most people do…" she replied.

"Pirate's Swoop, huh? Not far from here. Alina Sulmalin, hmm, that does sound a bit familiar." He said, brows furrowed trying to recall.

"Does the name Numair Sulmalin ring a bell? Perhaps Daine, the wild mage?" she asked.

His eyes widened in surprise, and jaw dropped, "Those are your parents?" he asked, shocked.

"Yep," she said, looking at the floor, hoping he would not just be another that asked endless questions about them.

"Wow," he breathed, then looked brightly at Alina, "Then you must be fantastic at magic!"

"I suppose," she replied, "but it's really different from theirs, or well, anyone I have met… according to my dad I have wild magic and the gift all mixed up as one."

"Woah… I can hardly handle the gift, but wild magic wound up in their too? I don't know what I'd do."

"Even my da doesn't have it figure out, and magic's his job, so it's pretty much up to me to figure out what its about…" she replied, "it's so frustrating and my da wanted me to just sit in a room and test it all day."

"I guess that's why you're here, huh?" Theo said.

"Pretty much. What about you, I mean, you look a little older than the other second year pages?" Alina asked.

"Yeah, I'm fifteen, most of the first years are thirteen. It's because of a tradition our family has, it's like a coming-of-age kind of thing. The parents decide when they think their kid is ready to learn these kind of ceremonial things and a northern fighting style and then you have to take a year to learn them. I was planning to come here at thirteen, but my parents didn't think I ready to do the training until then, so I had to wait. But it doesn't bother me, I think it made me more ready. At least, I was more fit at first than the others."

"I didn't know they had that up north, I thought everyone in Tortall pretty much followed the same traditions." Alina replied.

"Well, alot things are the same, but it's a really old a really old house, actually it's really called 'Beorg Cald' in the old language meaning cold mountain, the ancestors weren't too creative, and it's so close to Scanra that there are a lot of influences from there." He answered, "oh, here's the dining hall, let me fill you in on the most important schedule you need to know: when there's food."


End file.
